以藏傳密宗為信仰主體，以天葬為實踐的死亡觀很獨特。本文力圖在與其他東方以及漢文化的比較中，揭示出西藏天葬文化及其死亡觀的奧秘與真諦，以及其並非主觀意願的客觀效果。所謂東方喪葬文化和死亡觀主要基於印度教和道釋儒家等主要思想體系，以及衍生的地方宗教和風俗習慣。人們在喪葬類型中自然產生了對死亡的不同認識，即死亡觀。死亡觀是喪葬活動的理論基礎，而喪葬方式則是死亡觀的實踐活動。東方死亡觀受著由自然環境和社會條件所構成的總體文化背景，即地緣、宗教、政治、經濟等綜合因素的影緯；它可分為同一觀，虛無觀，轉世觀，命定觀，永生觀，自然觀，節義觀，等級觀，輕生觀，重生觀，貪生觀等。藏佛教文獻對死亡進行了詳細而深奧的探討，從而對死亡觀揭示出死的本體意義，認知意義，倫理意義，審美意義和因果意義。同為中華民族，但漢藏傳統顆然不同 ，盡管二者有一定的邊緣結合區和悠久的歷史關聯。在喪葬文化上，漢藏更表現出迥然相異的特徵。藏喪葬文化信奉天葬觀、薄葬觀、滅屍觀、無祖觀，就地親。漢藏喪葬文化相較，前者較帶有人為，功利和沉重的物質制約，而後者則較其有自然、超脫和質樸的精神追求，任何喪葬文化及其死亡觀都是與某個民族的整個自然生存的條件和經濟活動的方式，以及在它們基礎上產生世界觀、宗教和價值觀相適應。對某種特定的喪葬方式的採納和沿用，也是某種習以為常長期心理適應的發展結果。生長在世界屋脊上的藏民族，可以說是離蒼穹最近的人類群落。西藏天葬死亡觀是建立在藏傳密宗與苯教二者教義的基礎之上的。藏族民眾普 遍相信妞魂必須徹底脫離肉身軀殼才可以達到升天的目的。藏死亡觀在天葬中的客觀結果是：死亡成為物質存在形式的某種轉換，成為一種最有利環保的喪葬形式，成為最節省資源喪 葬形式。對天葬文化約有各種偏見或俗見：一是歧視，二是獵奇，三是寬容。天葬文化的主觀意願是升天，但其客觀效果卻是最徹底最超脫最本體性地回歸自然。如果撇開文化偏見， 心理障礙，客觀條件的限制和某些技術層面的考量，在一定意義上說，天葬是所有喪葬類型中，最合理最有利人類發展的一種方式。

　　　　　The peculiar way of looking at death in Tibet is to take Tibetan Buddhism as religious substance and sky burial as its practice. In comparing to the other oriental cultures and Han culture, this paper is an attempt to illustrate the esoteric and real meaning of the Tibetan burial culture audits notion of death, and its objective effect out of on subjective will. The so-called oriental burial culture and notion of death are mainly based on thoughts of Hinduism, and Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. They also depend on local religions and custom. Different kinds of burial ceremonies make people naturally have different notions of death. The notion of death is the basis on which burial culture rests. The oriental notion of death is shaped by its natural surroundings and social conditions. It can be divided as follows: the notions of identity, nihility, incarnation, fate-determination, eternity, nature, discipline, cast, making light of one's life, put emphasis on one's life, and reluctant to death etc. The Tibetan Buddhist document has esoterically discussed death in detail. From the notion of death it draws the ontological, cognitive, ethical, aesthetical, and causal meaning of death. In China, although the Tibetans and the Hans have some kind of geographical and historical connections, yet in burial culture they show their differences. The Tibetan burial culture believes in the notions of sky burial, light burial, body-destruction, ancestor less, and on-the-spot. In comparison to Han culture of burial, the former is artificial, utilitarian, and limited by material; whereas the latter is natural, unconventional and in pursuit of simplicity. Living on the roof of the world, the Tibetans are close to the sky. Believing in Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetans think that only separating from the body can the soul reach to the sky. In sky burial the objective result of death is: death becomes the transformation of the form of material existence, and brings benefit to the protection of environment, and does not cause waste of resources. The biases towards the culture of sky burial are: prejudice, seeking novelty, and simple forgiveness. The subjective will of sky burial is to rise up to the sky, but the objective effect is to return to nature completely. If we put aside cultural prejudice, psychological barrier, limitation of objective conditions, and some technical aspects, then, we might say, sky burial might be the most reasonable way of burying the dead for us to pursue.